Al Sharpton owes $4.5 million in back taxes and he’s speaking out about the apparent misunderstanding that he still owes that amount of money. According to CNN, Sharpton and his companies got in trouble for owing $4.5 million in current state and federal tax liens a few years ago. However, he says that he has already started paying the money back and that he doesn’t owe that much anymore.
“The MSNBC host said in a press conference Wednesday that the $4.5 million was the original figure he was ordered to pay back in 2008, but that he has been making regular payments since then and the amount is now less,” reports CNN.
Al Sharpton was defensive about the $4.5 million report that was released by the New York Times on Tuesday.
“If we owed $4.5 million in ’08 then how could we owe this now, unless you’re saying that everybody just went to sleep on this and just gave us a pass, which is ridiculous,” he said. Evidently frustrated that his tax situation keeps finding its way into the news even if it’s “old news,” Sharpton maintains that he’s taking care of the problem at hand.
“Every time there’s a Sean Bell or a Ferguson or a Trayvon Martin, we go through my taxes. It’s the same agreement y’all. It’s the same thing we announced in ’09. It is the same thing we’ve been paying every month,” he said.
According to Business Insider , Sharpton feels as though his name being dragged through the mud of IRS-ruin is purely political. This is not surprising.
“I think it’s political. A lot of people don’t like the fact that President Obama is the president. A lot of people don’t like the fact that Bill de Blasio won for mayor. And they certainly don’t like the fact that I’m still here and I ain’t going nowhere… I have not owed a dime in current taxes or in National Action Network taxes since President Obama or de Blasio has been in office.”
As previously reported by the Inquisitr , Sharpton turned heads back in September when he said that he was really enjoying learning about the fashion industry . The idea came to him after he lost a bunch of weight. He says he wanted to learn how to dress his new body.
“Well, I enjoy fashion much more now that I have lost weight and am much thinner than I used to be. I really like shorts and fitted sweaters. I can wear things now that I couldn’t wear before, so fashion has become very important to me and plays a bigger role in my occupation, as well as my personal lifestyle,” he said.
